St. Anselm drops New Haven

Roy Mabrey of St. Anselm jumps above Jeremy Williams of New Haven at St. Anselm, in Manchester on Tuesday. (THOMAS ROY/UNION LEADER)

GOFFSTOWN - The St. Anselm College men looked impressive, controlling play at both ends of the Stoutenburgh Gym court while defeating the University of New Haven, 72-52, in a contest involving two of the hottest teams in the Northeast-10 Conference.

The host Hawks, tied with Assumption atop the conference standings with an 11-3 record (15-3 overall), employed several intuitive defensive stands and displayed motion-filled offensive attack to secure its 10th victory in 11 games. They are off to their best start in recent memory.

The Hawks dominated every facet of the game, improving to 7-1 at home. They shot 53.8 percent from the field, won the rebounding battle against a taller team, 37-26, forced nine turnovers and made six steals.

The Hawks might sport the highest-scoring offense in the conference (averaging 83 points an outing), but stingy, sneaker-squeaking defense propelled the club to a 37-19 intermission lead Tuesday night.

Defenders switched effectively off screens and contested every shot, causing the Chargers to shoot 21.4 percent from the field. Defenders owned the boards, collecting 17 at the defensive end.

"Everyone has wanted to talk about our offense this season, but in this game the defense told the story," said Dickson. "I think this was one of the most complete 40 minutes of basketball we've played to date."

Meanwhile, the offense, which swished the second-most treys (18) in school history during its last game, hit short range shots against New Haven. Players drove the lanes to bank home several creative layup drives.